J.r.s.o. to Receive Heirless Property in U.S. of Nazi Victims

President Eisenhower signed an Executive Order this week-end designating the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization–JRSO–to receive unclaimed property of certain deceased victims of Nazi persecution which is held by the U.S. Attorney General under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The JRSO is a charitable membership organization incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.

The President’s action was taken pursuant to a law passed by Congress which authorizes the transfer of unclaimed heirless property of Nazi victims to one or more American non-profit charitable organizations designated by the President, for use in the rehabilitation and settlement, on the basis of need, of persons in the United States who are survivors of persecuted groups. Safeguards are provided, however, for re-transfer of the property should it subsequently appear that there are eligible heirs.

A spokesman for the JRSO told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that the President’s Executive Order transfers no assets of any description to the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization, but grants the organization the right to file and prove property claims up to a maximum of $3,000,000.

“President Eisenhower’s Executive Order which designated the JRSO as eligible to receive heirless and unclaimed property of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution whose assets had been seized in this country as the property of persons who technically were enemy aliens, grants the JRSO the right to file claims to such properties,” the spokesman stated. “The JRSO will, therefore, be required to carry out the complicated task of searching out and collecting information from every available source in support of the claims which it must file by August 1955, in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 626 enacted in August 1954.”